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Syria Chemical Weapons Inspectors Detail Ambush After Their Escape

This Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013 shows a member of UN investigation team taking samples of sands near a part of a missile that is likely to be one of the chemical rockets according to activists, in Damascus countryside of Ain Terma, Syria.

The team — consisting of inspection experts and officials from the OPCW and the United Nations — was headed to the city of Kafr Zita, about 200 miles north of the capital city, on its way to investigate allegations of a chemical weapons attack involving chlorine. The group says the visit had been carefully negotiated with the Syrian government and various armed opposition groups operating in the area.

That's when things went horribly wrong:

Shortly after leaving government-controlled territory, the lead vehicle in the convoy was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED) sustaining severe damage. The team members were rescued and shifted to two other vehicles in the convoy which turned back to move to a safer location. While entering a built-up area the convoy was ambushed; the first vehicle was shot at from close range with automatic weapons hitting the body, windows and tires.

The occupants of the two remaining vehicles, who were briefly detained by some gunmen, were later released upon the intervention of the main opposition group with whom the ceasefire and security arrangements had been negotiated. The reunited team then returned to Damascus via Homs under Syrian Government escort.

The group says the attack will not deter it from continuing the fact-finding mission, and it will continue to work to gather information and data investigating allegations of the use of chlorine in Syria.

In this August 26, 2013, file Photo, a U.N. team, that is scheduled to investigate an alleged chemical attack that killed hundreds last week in a Damascus suburb, leaves their hotel in a convoy, in Damascus, Syria.

Image: File/Associated Press

The Kafr Zita investigation stems from reports that, on April 11, 2014, government or opposition forces launched an attack on the town, killing two and injuring dozens.

"Regime planes bombed Kafr Zita with explosive barrels that produced thick smoke and odors and led to cases of suffocation and poisoning," Rami Abdel Rahman, a spokesman with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told BBC News at the time.

State-run television accused a jihadist group of launching the attack, stating, "There is information that the terrorist Nusra Front released toxic chlorine... leading to the death of two people and causing more than 100 people to suffer from suffocation."

In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, posted on April 18, 2014, , two women and a young girl are treated by a medic in Kfar Zeita.

Image: Shaam News Network/Associated Press

OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü strongly condemned Tuesday's attack. He said it was "a sad day for the people of Syria, and for the international community, because of a blatant attempt to prevent the facts being brought to light," according to a statement posted on OPCW's website. "This will not, however, prevent the OPCW from raising its voice against the cruelty of use of toxic chemicals to kill and harm indiscriminately."

The director-general also said the group's safety was the primary concern, "and it is imperative that all parties to the conflict grant them safe and secure access."

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government killed 1,429 people during a chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21, 2013 — a war crime since 1925 thanks to the Geneva Protocol, an international treaty prohibiting the use of "asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices" and "bacteriological methods of warfare" — prompting the world to force the country to rid itself of chemical weapons.

In September, Syria said it would fully cooperate with the process, but the government has continued to reportedly use chlorine gas in attacks on towns in the rebel-held north. The attacks, which often come when canisters of chlorine are dropped into buildings and over towns, leave civilians "coughing, choking and gasping for breath," according to the Associated Press, which interviewed activists, medics and residents on the opposition side.

As of May 20, just 7.2% of Syria’s chemical weapons material remained in country and was awaiting swift removal for destruction, the OPCW said.

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